Janet Dailey

Janet Dailey was a famous writer. She loved books from a young age. She even had a library card at age four.

Janet wrote stories about love. Many of her books were set in the American West. She wrote about ranch life and big skies.

She was very hard at work. Janet wrote fifteen pages every single day. She often woke up at 4 a.m. to write.

Janet wrote about every state in the U.S. This was a very big job. A record book even noted this feat.

Many people read her books. Her stories were sold in nineteen different languages. People all over the world enjoyed her tales.

Janet Dailey was a famous writer of romance novels. These are stories about love. She loved books from a very young age. She even had her own library card at age four.

Janet was a very hard worker. She had a goal to write 15 pages every day. Her work day often began at 4 a.m. On some days, she worked for 14 hours. She sometimes stopped writing in the middle of a sentence. This helped her start again the next day.

She was known for writing about the American West. Her books showed life in the West through a woman's eyes. She also wrote a special series called Americana. In this series, she set a story in every U.S. state. The Guinness Book of World Records recognized this feat.

Her books were very popular. They were sold in 19 different languages. More than 300 million copies have been sold worldwide. Janet also started an award for writers. This $5,000 prize went to authors who wrote about social issues. She lived in Branson, Missouri, for many years.

Janet Dailey was a very famous American author. She wrote many romance novels about love. These stories became popular all over the world. Her books were translated into nineteen different languages. People bought more than 300 million copies of her work. She is remembered for bringing a new feeling to her stories. Her books often focused on the lives of women.

Writing was a very hard job for Janet. She had a strict way it worked every day. Her workday often started very early at 4 a.m. She set a goal to write 15 pages each day. On some days, she worked for 14 hours straight. Sometimes she stopped right in the middle of a sentence. This helped her have a reason to start again the next morning.

Janet's path to becoming a writer began in Iowa. She was born in Storm Lake on May 21, 1944. She loved books and had a library card at age four. In 1974, she wrote her first big manuscript. It was called No Quarter Asked. This book was published by a company called Mills & Boon. This made her the first American woman published by them.

She was famous for her special Americana series. This series included 50 different books. In these books, she set a story in every single state in the United States. The Guinness Book of World Records recognized her for this big feat. She also wrote many books about the American West. These stories showed the West through the eyes of women.

Janet's life had many different parts. She lived in Branson, Missouri, for many years. She even started the Janet Dailey Award in 1993. This was a $5,000 prize for writers. It went to authors who wrote about important social issues. Later in her life, she faced a hard legal case. She settled a lawsuit with author Nora Roberts in 1998. Janet passed away in 2013 after heart surgery.

Janet Dailey was a highly successful American novelist specializing in romance fiction. Her work reached a massive global audience through various publishing formats. Her books have been translated into nineteen different languages. They have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. Dailey is particularly noted for her impact on the romance genre. She was a pioneer in bringing American settings and sensibilities to a global market. Her stories often focused on the experiences of women in the American West.

Dailey maintained a very disciplined writing process to manage her prolific career. Her workday often began at 4:00 a.m. each morning. She established a personal goal to write 15 pages every single day. On productive days, she might meet this quota in 8 to 10 hours. On more difficult days, she worked for 12 to 14 hours. She often used a unique psychological tactic to maintain her momentum. Dailey would frequently stop writing while she was in the middle of a sentence. This left her with unfinished thoughts to resolve the following morning. Some of her early manuscripts were completed in as little as eight days.

Her literary career began with a specific challenge and a breakthrough in publishing. After asserting she could write better romance novels than those available, her husband challenged her to prove it. She spent eight months writing her first manuscript, titled *No Quarter Asked*. She initially sent a query letter to Harlequin. However, Harlequin was only reprinting Mills & Boon novels at that time. Consequently, she reached out to Mills & Boon in London. This led to her becoming the first American woman published by Mills & Boon in 1974. By 1976, Harlequin released her work as part of its Presents line.

Dailey is most famous for creating the Western romance subgenre. Traditional Western novels often marginalized female characters. Dailey changed this by centering her stories on heroines. Her novels recreated the feeling of the frontier through physical confrontation with the elements. She focused on the pursuit between a man and a woman unconstrained by societal expectations. One of her most significant achievements was the "Janet Dailey Americana Series." This series consisted of 50 novels. In this collection, she set a story in every single state in the United States. The Guinness Book of World Records recognized her for this specific achievement.

Her career also involved a major transition in how her books were sold. In 1979, she became the first romance author to move from category romances to single-title romance novels. Her first mass-market romance novel was titled *Touch the Wind*. This book successfully reached the *New York Times* Best Seller List. Most of her subsequent books also achieved this status. By 1998, her Harlequin novels alone had sold a combined 80 million copies.

In the later years of her career, Dailey faced a significant legal challenge. In 1997, novelist Nora Roberts sued Dailey for plagiarism. Roberts accused Dailey of copying her work over a seven-year period. This issue was discovered by a reader who compared the books *Sweet Revenge* and *Notorious*. The reader posted the similar passages on the internet. Dailey acknowledged the theft and attributed it to a psychological disorder. Both the novels *Aspen Gold* and *Notorious* were pulled from print. Dailey settled the case in April 1998.

Beyond her writing, Dailey contributed to the literary community through philanthropy. In 1993, she established The Janet Dailey Award. This was an annual $5,000 prize. It was awarded to an author whose romance novel best addressed a social issue. Dailey lived in Branson, Missouri, for many years. She passed away at her home in Branson on December 14, 2013. Her death resulted from complications following heart surgery.